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Wednesday, February 15, 2012

Heart update

So all's set for March 20th. Heart and lung bypass for Reuben at UCLA. The surgeon and his nurse practitioner were patient and extremely informative, both having been involved in Reuben's 1st open heart at Children's in 2007. There's a 10% chance of a pacemaker, the risk exacerbated by delving into the same area as previously. The positive news is that the thickening of his heart caused by the extra work it's been doing due to the flappy tissue creating a little damn, is likely to reverse after the surgery and return to a normal thickness. The surgery will involve snipping that tissue along with a bit of the muscle. The incision will run along his existing heart scar and they'll also use the original tube holes as per the 1st surgery so with time, the scaring shouldn't be that much worse than it is currently